Almost everyone know something about =BabeHermanRuth.
You probably know him as =Babe - that was his nickname.
=Babe played for the =NewYork =Yankees.
He hit hundreds of home runs.
Most people think he was baseball's greatest player.
But do you know the best thing about =BabeRuth?

He saved baseball.
He did!
Here's how it happened.
The story starts off in 1914 -- =BabeRuth's first year in the
major leagues.
Baseball was America's favorite sport.
Fans read about games in newspapers.

Kids collected cards of their favorite players.
And people filled ballparks to cheer on their favorite teams.

Baseball was =Babe's favorite sport, too.
Believe it or not, =Babe wasn't always a =Yankee.
=Babe played for the =Boston =RedSox.

In those days, =Babe was a pitcher - not a hitter.
=Babe threw fast.
=Babe threw strikes.
And he almost always won.

Pitchers don't play every day.
So pitchers don't hit that often.
But =Babe practiced hitting.
He loved to swing the bat.
He loved to hit the ball.
And boy, could =Babe hit!

In 1915 =Babe hit his first home run.
It was against the =NewYork =Yankees!
He hit is hard.
He hit it high.
And he hit it far.

Fans cheered.
They had never seen a home run quite like it.

People began to wonder, why isn't =Babe a hitter?
"=Babe, get ready to bat more," said =Babe's coach!
=Babe still had to pitch in some games.
But now he got to play every day!

In 1919, =Babe hit the most home runs ever - 29.
In every city he played in, people kept track of
=Babe's home runs.

=Babe kept track, too -- by carving notches in his bat!

And =Babe hit at least one home run in every city he visited.
No one had done that before.
=Babe became the king of home runs!

In that year, something bad happened to baseball.
Fans were excited about the World Series.
They wanted to find out which team was the best -
the =Chicago =WhiteSox or the =Cincinnati =Reds.

But some =WhiteSox players cheated.
People all across =America found out.

People were shocked.
Many fans stopped going to the ball fields.
A boy saw his favorite =WhiteSox player.
"Say it ain't so, =Joe," the boy cried!

But it was so.
People just didn't trust baseball anymore.
Baseball needed someone who could make fans care again.
But who was big enough to save baseball?
=BabeRuth - that's who!

In 1920, something good happened to =BabeRuth.
=Babe went to play for a new team, the =NewYork
=Yankees.
=Babe knew that meant no more pitching - just hitting.
=Babe met his new teammates in =NewYork =City.
"I'm =BabeRuth. Let's play ball," he said!

People wondered, could =Babe hit 29 home runs again?
"I'll hit 50 this year," he promised.
"Impossible," people said!

The season started.
Game after game, =Babe clubbed home runs.
The more =Babe hit, the more people paid attention.
"That =BabeRuth sure can hit," they said!

Newspaper boys shouted out the news.
"=Babe hits another! =Yankees win!"
And =Babe was right!
He hit a lot more than 29 that year - he hit 54!
"Wow! =BabeRuth really keeps his word," people said!

=Babe was changing people's minds about baseball.
And =Babe's home runs changed baseball.
Now every team tried to hit more home runs.
Other players even tried to copy =Babe's swing.
That meant more runs and more excitement!

=Babe loved children.
So he did something fun for them.
He signed hundreds of baseballs.
Then he hid them.
Children raced around town to find them!

More and more fans came to watch =Babe!
People were too crowded.

The =Yankees needed more seats.
So they built a new ballpark.
And it was big - just like =Babe's home runs.
"Some ball yard," =Babe said!

For the first time people called a ballpark something
different - a stadium.
It was named =Yankee Stadium.
But one reporter had a better idea.
He remembered why they built it.
So he nicknamed it "The House that =Ruth Build."

On =April 18, 1923, the gates opened. A marching band
played music. The =American flag was raised.
=Babe's old team, the =Boston =RedSox, came to play!

Before the big game, =Babe made a wish.
=Babe said he wished to hit the first home run in =Yankee
Stadium.

Everyone waited to see if =Babe could do it.
The governor of =NewYork threw out the first ball.
The umpire shouted," Play ball!"

By the fourth inning, the =Yankees were winning.
But no one had hit a home run yet.
=Babe came up to bat.
Fans held their breath.

People listened to the radios.
Everyone wanted to know if =Babe's wish would come true.

The pitcher threw the ball.
=Babe swung with all his might.
Whack!
The announcer called out, "He did it! He did it!
=BabeRuth hits the first home run ever at =Yankee
Stadium!"

=Babe jogged around the bases.
The crowd stood and cheered.
"Hooray for =Babe!"
"Hooray for baseball!"

=Babe crossed home plate.
He lifted his cap and waved to the fans.
Then he bowed.
His wish had come true.

=Babe hit a total of 714 home runs in his career.
He was one of the first players elected to the National
Baseball Hall of Fame. Today people remember =Babe as the
greatest baseball player ever.

Almost everyone knows something about =BabeRuth.
But now you know the best thing about =BabeRuth -
how he saved baseball.